We reached Mumbai after visiting my grandmother. Hari's letter was waiting for me at my doorstep. I picked up the letter quickly before my father noticed it. However, my mother and brother noticed me hiding that letter in my bag. When, I took the letter out from my bag and tried reading it secretly in my mother came unannounced.

“What is that you are reading so secretly? Show me...” she asked.

My mother saw that the letter was from Hari and handed over that letter back to me. She kept mum. Meanwhile, my brother entered my room and snatched the letter and ran away.

“Give me that letter now, otherwise I will kick your butt", I yelled.

"Letter from Hari...ahem ahem...What's up with you both these days?” he asked naughtily.

“Give that letter to her now. When will learn to speak like children of your age.” my mother shouted at my brother.

"Here, I do not want your silly letter. Keep it. I'm going", my brother said furiously and walked out of the room.

"Why did Hari send you a letter? Is it something important?” my mother asked.

"I wrote a letter to him telling him about my achievements this year at school. He just replied back to that letter", I answered.

"Ok...Keep it aside and come with me. I need your help for preparing lunch", said my mother.

I was restless. I had not yet read Hari's letter completely. I patiently waited for all the work to finish. I then rushed to read Hari's letter.

It read :

Dear Gayatri,

Thank you for your letter. How are you and your family? Hope you enjoyed your vacations.

My scholarship exam results will be coming soon. I hope to score well this time.

Do you remember my best friend Aakash? He had also participated in that exam.

I hope you will also perform well in your academics. Keep on writing poetry and stories. Do share those with me through your letters.

I saw your gift. You are indeed my best friend .Thanks a lot for that. Please do not be sorry. Instead I should be sorry. Sorry for whatever happened that day! I unnecessarily forced you to come with me. I will not repeat it again.

Miss you!

Your best friend,

 Hari.

That night, I was wide awake. His face, his smile and his thoughts had robbed my sleep. My mind recapitulated all those blissful moments spent with him. I woke up and secretly wrote a reply to Hari's letter. I decided to write one letter each day to Hari. However, I never posted those letters. I kept those letters in a secret place in my cupboard.

My school re-opened after the long vacation and I was eager to tell about Hari to Alisha and Alphonsa.

Alphonsa was ill and was hospitalized. Alisha was busy with the school elections of that academic year. I was missing both of them.

I wrote a letter to Alisha describing about my meeting with Hari and Hari's letter:

Dear Alisha,

I met Hari during this vacation. He has grown up. I wrote a letter to him. He sent a reply to my letter. He has told me to share my new stories and poems with him.

I felt really happy when I read his letter. When I was reading his letter, my brother and mother came in my room. My brother snatched the letter. He started teasing me when he understood that I was reading Hari's letter. My mother scolded him and he gave me back my letter.

I felt awkward after that incident. You know the reason..

This is the only purpose and meaning of my life.

Your best friend...

I handed over the letter to Alisha. Alisha was reading that letter when she realized that she was getting late for the Annual School Prefect Meeting. She kept the letter in her bag and rushed for the meeting.

One day morning, when I was about to leave for school, the phone bell rang. My father answered the call.

“What??? Hari met with an accident? When?” my father asked.

Those words pierced through my heart and my heart broke into pieces.

“What happened to Hari? How is he?" I asked with a trembling voice.

“He had gone out with his neighbour. Their bike met with an accident. Hari has been admitted into hospital with minor wounds but his neighbour is serious and is battling for his life", my father said.

I was devastated. I wanted to cry my eye's out. However, I had prelims coming up and had to attend my classes unfailingly. I reached school with an aching heart. I just wanted to ignore everyone and remain isolated. However, I was distracted by Alisha's sobs. I noticed that everyone in the classroom murmuring something about Alisha and the school bus. Nobody paid heed to her cries. For a while, I forgot my pain and was curious to know why Alisha was so upset.

I sat besides Alisha and asked, “What happened to you Alisha? Why are you crying dear? Tell me, please... I will help you."

Alisha started weeping inconsolably.

I repeated, “Please do not cry. See, I do not know what your problem is but I will definitely help you in finding a solution. There's nothing to worry dear. Stop crying. It's okay."

Alisha was furious, agitated and yelled, "What do you know about my problem. There is no solution for it. Go away! I do not want to speak to anyone in this world!"

I was bewildered. I never expected Alisha to be so bleak and loud. I had never seen Alisha so upset. Before I could say anything further, the school assembly bell rang. Everyone gathered in the assembly hall except Alisha. I was standing in the school assembly praying for both Hari and Alisha when Alisha joined us. She was sobbing throughout the assembly. Few teachers went towards Alisha and consoled her. She went out of the assembly hall with those teachers. We weren't able to speak till the lunch break.

"Alisha...I know you are upset. If you consider me as your best friend, please let me know your problem. Even if there is no solution for your problem, at least you will feel relaxed. You might feel better after sharing your feelings", I said in order to soothe her.

Alisha finally spoke," Gayatri you are my closest friends. I am feeling dirty to discuss what happened today morning in the school bus. Please promise me that you will not share it with anyone. It is very confidential and teachers have warned me not to share it with anybody. I trust you so I am disclosing it to you. Someone is trying to malign my name. Somebody has played a cheap game. Today morning, the cleaner of the bus found a letter. It was addressed to Lenin Bruce, the school leader. The content of the letter was very bad. It was written with red pen and highlighted with a yellow marker.”

The letter:

Dear Lenin,

I love you. I want to speak to you. Let's talk and have fun. Please come to my house tonight at 8.30 pm.

I have kept a special gift for you along with this letter. Please do bring this when you come tonight.

Love you lots baby...

Alisha.

“Do you know what that gift was? You might have not even heard of that word before... Even I was unaware till one of the teachers told me about it today morning. It was a condom! Damn it! I am mischievous, I agree but not a slut. The cleaner of the bus informed the teachers and the teachers handed over the letter to the principal. Believe me... I have done nothing wrong. But nobody trusts me" Alisha broke down.

I felt disabled and started thinking how to help Alisha. Meanwhile, one of the teachers came in and ordered Alisha to go to Principal's room. She wiped her tears and went out of the classroom. We were then instructed to hand over our English notebooks. One of my classmates carried the notebooks for the teacher. He came back and announced that the notebooks went to the principal's room.The prncipal was going to compare everyone's handwritings with the letter. The entire classroom was abuzz with various versions of the story. I was disappointed. I wasn't able to concentrate in any of the classes. Alisha hadn't attended any of the classes since lunch break.

During the last hour of the school, our class teacher came in and told me to accompany her with Alisha's school bag. We went to an empty classroom where my class teacher examined Alisha's school bag. What happened next changed my life forever. My class teacher found a letter from Alisha's bag. It was the same letter which I had handed over to Alisha few days ago. I froze and before I could say anything, my school teacher marched towards the principal's room with my letter. The last bell rang, I was numb and standing stunned. One of bus students came searching for me. She told me to go and meet the principal. I was bamboozled. As I walked down the stairs, I saw all the bus students sitting outside the principal's office. They all looked at me as if I was the perpetrator whom they were waiting for. I was told to wait outside principal's office. I saw that Alisha was in his office. I was longing to speak to her. As soon as she came out, I was asked to meet the principal. I entered his room for the first time in my life, baffled and worried.